Today's topic shall be on a little tool I like to use call "Spybot Search and Destroy (SS&D). SS&D belongs to the anti-malware/spyware family of safety tools. Have you ever had an annoying pop-up keep happening on your computer without you being connected to the internet? Have you suddenly noticed that your computer is loading INCREDIBLY slower from the time you hit the power button until the time you can actually start working? Does it take more than 5 seconds for your e-mail to load? That last one is more or less a joke at the stupid TV commercials to SPEED UP YOUR COMPUTER TO LUDICROUS SPEEDS (oh, how I loathe them).
Malware/spyware can do a range of bad things to your computer/information, so lets just put it this way: YOU DON'T WANT ANY. Here is the wikipedia link if you would like more info on what it can do.
If you've noticed any of these things happening or just generous slowness of your computer, malware/spyware can be at fault. How do you get these nasty things on your computer? Anything from downloading a virus, clicking on a link, or even sometimes going to the wrong page and letting an ad load (they can have secret trojans hidden in their code). Installing anti-malware and running it on your system can help speed up your system, and make securing your personal information that much easier.
Here is the Spybot Search & Destroy download page.
